The Runaway
by The Paper Princess
Summary: Emily helps a young foster kid (warning: child abuse & rape)
1. Chapter 1

The runaway

It was a rainy day and it was already dark outside when Emily Prentiss arrived at her apartment in Washington DC. It had been a long day, she was tired and could barely keep her eyes open as she grabbed in her handbag to take out her keys. She unlocked the door and entered the hallway, but as she was waiting for the elevator, she heard a quiet noise and immediately knew that someone was standing behind her. She shrugged and turned around, ready to fight, but there was nobody trying to attack her, instead a young girl was standing by the door, she had followed Emily inside, most likely seeking shelter because of the weather. She looked exhausted and tired, but that was not the first thing that Emily noticed about her.

Her mouth was bleeding and so was her nose, which appeared to be broken. There were dark circles under her eyes and her left arm was hanging off in a weird angle. She was skinny and pale like a ghost, something about her reminded Emily of a porcelain doll. She was dressed very poorly, the ripped jeans that she was wearing were way too big on her and her grey sweater was wet and dirty because of the rain and the blood from her mouth. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail.

She looked at Emily, unsure what to do. She could just turn around and run away. She would find another place to sleep tonight, but her legs wouldn't move. She was shaking and frightened, but the thought of leaving the house was even worse. For a moment neither of them said a word, then Emily made a step towards her, but all of a sudden the girl tried to run away. She tried to leave, run outside in the dark, away from the woman, but Emily ran over to the door, trying to hold her back. The girl tried to get past her, hit her and kicked her, but she soon had to accept the fact that Emily- a trained FBI agent, was stronger than her. Unable to leave, she started running up the stairs, hoping that there would be another exit. Emily followed her, not sure what to do.

When she realized that there was no escape, the girl started crying, Emily could see the panic written all over her face, she could barely breathe and Emily could tell that she was trying to hold back the tears. Her big dark brown eyes looked around in the hallway and then back to Emily, who was shocked about her behavior. She broke down and was hiding her face behind her hands as she was sitting in a corner of the hallway crying her eyes out. She wouldn't be able to leave this place again. This woman would not let an injured child go outside in the rain. She would bring her to a police station and that would be the end.

Emily sat down next to her, trying to figure out what to say or do next. Slowly she grabbed the girl's wrists and pulled them away from her face- carefully but firmly.

"It's okay" she said, "You don't need to be afraid. I won't hurt you."

For a split second Emily thought that the girl would slap her, but she didn't, all she did was to free her wrists from Emily's grip. "Tell me your name" she said calmly. "No." the girl said. Nothing more and nothing less. The way she said it was very neutral, she didn't mean to be provocative but as soon as the word had left the girl's mouth, Emily knew that she wouldn't get an answer. "Listen you have to tell me your name so that I can contact your parents. You're injured, besides you are way too young to be outside all by yourself at night." Emily waited patiently for the girl to answer, but she remained silent. She was staring at a wall next to her, as if she was expecting someone to come through the wall and tell her what to do.

"Just let me go, you don't know me it's not your business if I am running around by myself" the girl said defiantly.

"I won't let you go. Listen, you have two options: You can either tell me your name and give me a phone number so that I can call your parents or I am bringing you to the next police station." Emily said resolutely. She was concerned and didn't want to upset her even more, but at the same time she knew that she wouldn't get anywhere with this kid if she was being overly sweet.

"No please… I just… look, you will make everything worse, just leave me alone… you don't understand." She looked down on the floor, avoiding eye contact with Emily, who was observingly watching her, not missing the slightest change in her expressions.

"Well then explain it to me"

"I can't go back there. I mean… I could, but I don't want to"

"What do you mean you can't go home? Did your parents do this to you?"

"No, not really. I don't have parents, they are just my foster parents. I tried to tell my social worker, but he didn't believe me. I lied about stuff like that way too often. It's my fault that he doesn't take me serious anymore. He'll just send me back, it won't make any difference, I'll just get grounded and that's it."

Emily could tell that she wanted to get this conversation over with really quickly, she knew that the girl wasn't comfortable with any of this, but she wanted to help her. She had to.

"Come on, stand up, I'll bring you to a hospital" Emily said emphatically.

"Didn't you listen to what I said?" said the girl. She sounded annoyed, almost angry, but Emily was able to look beyond her tough surface. "I did and you will never go back there again, I promise. Look, you've got bruises all over your face, they _will_ believe you." The girl sighed and Emily could tell that she gave up.

She stood up and helped the kid to get up on her feet again as well. They walked down the stairs, it was quiet now, all of Emily's neighbors had already gone to bed and for a moment everything seemed peaceful. As they walked out the doors and into the cold, dark night Emily realized that the girl's clothes were still wet from the rain and that she was freezing. She took off her coat and put it on the girl's shoulders.

"Thank you", the girl whispered. It was a weird feeling, she had never had someone care about her. She had only known this woman for a few minutes, but she still felt kind of comfortable around her and she wasn't sure whether she should trust her instinct or not. She had never made any good experiences with adults or strangers… or let's just say people in general. Kids can be cruel too, right?

For the first time the girl looked directly in Emily's eyes, only for a second, then she looked at the ground again, not making any moves to start a conversation.

"Can you tell me your name now?" Emily smiled at her, trying to make the situation more relaxed.

"Why don't you tell me who you are first", the girl asked, trying to ignore the question one more time. "I am Emily, Emily Prentiss and I work for the FBI."

The girl's heart stopped beating for a moment, she held her breath. Why? Why always her? She tried to run away and couldn't even go one day without literally running into the arms of an FBI agent? It seemed like karma wasn't on her side. Emily was still waiting for an answer and she knew that she wouldn't be able to avoid answering the question any longer. It was over anyway.

"My name is Bobby." She mumbled as they got into Emily's car, it was almost 1 am now and all that Bobby could think, was that her social Worker Mr. Walters would definitely not be pleasantly surprised, if he got a phone call from a nurse in the middle of the night, telling him that he would have to get up and come to the hospital right away… she was screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

They were walking through the hallways of the hospital now, following a nurse, who was showing them the way to a small examination room. Bobbie was looking around her, trying to remember all the emergency exits she saw along the way… hoping she would get the opportunity to run away. She was counting her steps, remembering every single sign that was hanging on the walls to find her way out later. Emily was following Bobbie's eyes, she knew what she was trying to do and she wasn't gonna let that happen.

They entered the examination room, but there was nobody there yet, the nurse told them to sit down and wait here, the doctor would get here in a minute.

"Nervous?" Emily asked, she didn't let Bobby, who was constantly looking at the door, out of sight.

"A little bit." Her hands were ice cold and she was having a hard time breathing. She was trying to hide it though, she didn't want Emily to think that she was some helpless little kid who needed protection. She was a big girl. She didn't need help. She just wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

During the car ride she had been surprisingly calm, she was in her own little world. She always was, she was almost living a fantasy world that she created herself, especially in stressful situations. However, she couldn't pretend that this wasn't real anymore. She wasn't able to stand up to her foster parents. She was weak. She let it happen way too long and when she finally realized that she couldn't handle it anymore, she ran away. She had messed up really badly and it was all her fault.

Now it would eventually all stop, but what did that mean in the end? Would she have to live in a group home- or an even more violent family? That had happened to her before, it was part of the reason why she didn't report the abuse when she first came to this family. It could always get worse, that's the one thing she knew for sure. Besides- who would have believed her anyway? She was 11 years old and had been in over 20 foster families- ok, at some of them she only stayed for a couple of days, but still. She had a bad reputation, she was known as a runaway and troublemaker. Everyone- foster families and social workers- always tried to get rid of her as fast as possible.

She knew about her bad image, but she didn't even care anymore. When she was little she was very naive, a good girl, she had always tried to play by the rules. She used to be very quiet and always did what everyone else was telling her, however, as she got older, she had come to the conclusion that this behavior wouldn't get her anywhere. She didn't even try to get her foster parents to like her anymore, she always acted cocky and was a real tomboy. She usually stayed in her room reading all day long and sometimes she would stay away for days and not tell anyone where she was going. The funny thing is that most of her "parents" didn't even report her missing, some of them had so many foster kids to look after, that they didn't even notice that she was gone.

The doctor came in and started talking for a while, she said that there were police officers in front of the door who would come in and ask her some questions as soon as the exam was over. She told them that her social worker had already been contacted and that two other police officers were on their way to her foster parents. Then she started asking questions about Bobbie's medical history and asked her about her injuries. She gave honest answers- for a change. Emily was sitting next to her, she didn't say much, but she listened and payed attention to every detail of her story. When she was finished she looked at the doctor who had stood up and was now walking outside of the room to call a nurse to assist her with the exam.

"Do you want me to stay or do you want me to leave the room?" asked Emily, she wasn't quite sure if Bobbie wanted someone to be with her and hold her hand or if she needed more space and privacy.

Bobbie didn't know that either. A part of her wanted Emily to leave, but she also didn't want to be alone with the doctor and the nurse, who were treating her like an object and for some reason she trusted Emily.

"Stay" she said quietly.

She had to get changed into a hospital gown and sit down on the examination table, they documented all of her injuries and took care of them. It was extremely exhausting. She was in a lot of pain and she didn't like having all the hospital staff around her touching her without asking and giving her injections without warning her. One time she teared up and almost started crying again, but this time she won the fight against the tears. She was laying on her back now and had closed her eyes. She wasn't tired anymore, but the lights above her were blinding her and she was feeling extremely sick. She had to talk to the officers who had been waiting outside. She didn't lie to them, but she also didn't tell them the whole story. She left some stuff out, mostly because she wasn't comfortable talking about some things they did.

Around 3 am Mr. Walters arrived, Bobbie could tell that he was angry, which scared her even more, because most of the time, he had the most perfect poker face. She heard him fighting with the officers way before he even came close to entering the room. Bobbie didn't hear the full conversation, but one thing was clear: He didn't believe one word of her story. She was lucky though, everyone else seemed to trust her. Emily was standing right next to the table, she was holding her hand now and talking to the doctors. They were confident that she would be allowed to leave the hospital this morning.

"So… what now" Bobbie looked at Mr. Walters anxiously, where would she end up this time?

"Well, I was just informed that your foster parents were arrested. They tried to deny everything at first, but as the police officers were investigating, they talked to the other foster kids that were living with that family as well and noticed that they also showed signs of abuse. I will start looking for a new family for you, meanwhile you will stay in an orphanage"

She nodded and was about to get off of the examination table to get changed, when she felt Emily's hand holding her back. She looked at her, but Emily was looking at Mr. Walters.

"I can take her for a while if that's possible. I mean until you found a good family for her."

For a few seconds he didn't say anything, instead he looked at Emily as if she had lost her mind.

"Are you sure you want to do this? As far as I know, you don't have any experiences when it comes to fostering and ummm… Bobbie can be quite difficult at times."

"I am pretty sure I can handle it" Emily said with a slight smirk on her face.

"Ok… then I will get the paperwork ready" He left the room, Emily and Bobbie were alone now.

"Why are you doing this for me?" Bobbie asked, she had no clue why Emily would offer her to live with her for a while, she had already done enough for her.

"I don't know, I guess I just know what it's like to be alone."


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you hungry?" Emily asked, trying to start a conversation. Now that she thought about it, she realized that she had never had a kid stay at her apartment over night. If she was being completely honest, she didn't have much experience with kids at all, especially foster kids.

Bobbie was standing near the door, as far away from Emily as she possibly could. Now that she was actually in Emily's apartment, she questioned the whole idea of living here. During the car ride back to Emily's apartment, the FBI agent had constantly tried to get the young girl to disclose to her and to build a relationship, but Bobbie hadn't told her much. She was uncomfortable talking about her experiences, but first and foremost, she didn't want to bond with Emily.

She wasn't going to stay here, that's just how it was. Emily didn't want her to live here forever, she was just trying to be nice, but she wasn't helping at all. Bobbie didn't want to get close to her. She already knew what would happen if she would open up to Emily. She would trust Emily, get attached to her and get used to having someone take care of her and listen to her problems. She would get all comfortable and have something like a "normal" family life and then Emily would throw her out again and she she would be all by herself again in no time.

"No, thank you, I am fine. Actually, I am really tired, I think I will just go to bed, if you don't mind."

"Oh sure, you're right, it was a very long day… or in fact, it's already morning" Emily looked down at her, it was obvious that she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to address it.

"You know, you can talk to me about it if you want to. I mean… I know that we haven't even known each other for a full day, but I mean… I am here if you want or need to talk."

"Thank you, but… I don't think that's a good idea." Bobbie stuttered, she took a deep breath and looked at the ground.

"Oh ok, why?"

"You're not my mom, I don't know you and it's not like I will stay here. Like I am sorry… I am really grateful to you for letting me stay here, but it's the same story every time. That wasn't my first family, it wasn't the first abusive one and it certainly won't be the last one. I am used to it ok? I am fine. I don't need help and I don't need to talk."

She was talking fast and breathing heavily, but this time she was looking in Emily's eyes. She wanted to show her, that she wasn't weak or hiding any emotions and that she didn't need anyone.

"I know that ok and I am really sorry that you had to go through-"

"Stop ok? I don't need you to pity me, that's honestly the last thing I want. And why are you sorry? You work for the FBI, don't you? You people literally are the reason foster kids have such a bad image. Because of you, everyone thinks that we all grow up to be serial killers and psychopaths…"

Her voice sounded angry now, it was like all the anger and all the thoughts she had kept to herself for all these years were finally breaking out of her. For the first time in her life someone was paying attention to her. Emily was listening and even though Bobbie was being loud and attacked her in a way, she didn't make any effort to stop or interrupt her, she didn't even look offended. She was sitting on the couch with her hands on her lap and her eyes were following Bobbie, who was walking around in the room.

Bobbie felt guilty after insulting Emily, she was ashamed for behaving this way, after all that Emily had done for her. She had an attitude problem, she knew that, but most of the time, she couldn't control herself, she was constantly angry.

"I am sorry." She mumbled and looked at Emily.

"It's okay. I can't imagine how hard all of this must be." She smiled, but looked concerned.

"You are probably all right anyways" Bobbie sighed and looked like she was disgusted by herself.

"About what?"

"Kids like me… kids who get thrown out of families, skip school, steal and get themselves into trouble on their regular bases." She hated herself and everyone else, she hated her life.

"That's not true, that's not what we-"Emily started, but Bobbie interrupted her once again.

"Wait a few years… I will probably drop out of school, not get a job and then live on the street-or worse…"

"Come here" Emily said and took Bobbie's hands as she came over to sit on the couch.

"Listen, you still have your whole life ahead of you. The things that happened to you are not your fault, it's normal that you are angry… at me, at your foster parents and the system. I just want to help you, do you understand?"

"Yes." She said, even though she didn't look like she actually believed it. "Can I go to sleep now?" She asked, she didn't want to see where this conversation would go. She could feel a lump in her throat and she was sure that she would start crying, if Emily would make her talk to her any longer. She thought about talking to Emily, a small part of her wanted to tell her about all the things she had been through, she knew that Emily would listen to her and take her seriously, but at this point, she didn't' even want to be happy, she just wanted to waste away. She wanted to ignore everything that was going on in her life, she wouldn't stay a kid forever, one day she would get out of the foster care system and be free, nobody knew what would happen to her then, but she didn't want to think about that yet. For now, she just wanted to sleep, she wanted to dream and forget all her problems.

It was silent now, all the neighbors had already left for work and the lights were switched off, so it was completely dark. She was laying on the couch, Emily had given her bed sheets, a pillow and a blanket. It was pretty comfortable, Emily had already gone to bed, so she had the living room all to herself. She wondered how her friends were doing and where they were living at the moment. It was hard to keep in touch with all the kids she had met along the way, most of them were changing families often, just like her, so it was hard to contact them, because most of them didn't have phones. Maybe Emily would let her use her phone… She needed to talk to them, she needed to talk to someone who would actually understand her and was in the same position as her.

She closed her eyes and tried to be happy. All together this day hasn't been that bad, after all she had escaped another family and was save now. But she couldn't, she knew that this wasn't the end of it, in just a few days, everything would start all over again.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, I got you some breakfast" Emily whispered caringly, she was sitting on the edge of the couch and was stroking over Bobbie's hair to wake her up. Bobbie groaned and sat up straight, for a moment she didn't know where she was, but then it all came back- her memories and the pain from all her injuries.

"What time is it?" Bobbie had completely lost her sense of time, she had a headache and her back and ribs were still hurting as much as they did yesterday at the hospital, if not even more. She was still in a lot of pain and holding her side.

"It's one pm. Hey are you ok, are you still in pain?" Emily asked, she was looking extremely worried, now that she realized, how much Bobbie was still suffering. "Yeah sure, just a little sore. It's nothing really." Bobbie assured her. "Don't you have to be at work?"

"Yeah usually, but I couldn't just leave you here all by yourself, could I?" Emily was smiling again now. "Of course you could have, really you can leave if you want to, I am used to being alone, I can watch myself, I am not a baby."

"And I never said you were, but I still won't leave."

"Why? I sometimes stay alone for days and nothing bad ever happened, I won't get you into any trouble, I promise." Bobbie said, as if she was trying to get rid of Emily.

"I don't know what your former foster parents were doing, but I won't leave you alone" Emily looked like she didn't know if Bobby was being serious or if she just wanted her to leave the apartment, so that she could run away.

"Your social worker came here while you were still sleeping." Emily continued

"What did he want?" Bobbie, who was now eating the food that Emily had brought her, asked.

"He dropped some of your stuff off, so that you have fresh clothes to wear and we had a little talk…"

Bobbie looked up, she didn't like the change in Emily's voice. What had they talked about?

Emily, who had been standing in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee, now came over and sat down on the other end of the couch. "I am going to ask you a question and I want you to promise me right now, that you won't lie to me, ok?"

Bobbie looked shocked, she felt really pressured, Emily was staring at her and her eyes were full of compassion and concern, Bobbie knew where this was going and she immediately started feeling sick again. She knew that she would have to be honest with Emily, she was a good liar, she really was, but this was different. Emily was a profiler and Bobbie knew that she had no chance.

She nodded and anxiously asked "What do you wanna know?"

"Did your foster father ever touch you in an inappropriate way?"

"Who said that he did that, did Mr. Walters tell you to ask me that?" Bobbie said defensively, she was sitting on the edge of the couch, as if she was about to jump up and run.

"That was no answer." Emily said, but Bobbie just shrugged, stood up and walked to a window in the living room.

"Why would he care anyway, he never listened." Bobbie replied stubbornly. She was holding onto the windowsill and didn't dare to look at Emily.

"So it's true?" Emily asked with a soft, calm voice.

But Bobbie couldn't answer. She was crying silently and tears were coming out of her eyes, but she didn't make a sound and was holding her breath. Emily, who couldn't see her face from where she was sitting, also got up and slowly walked over to her. She took Bobbie's arm, turned her around and kneeled down in front of her, so that Bobbie was forced to look at her.

"Hey, it's alright, you don't need to be ashamed, just be honest with me." Emily looked at her expectantly, but when Bobbie didn't answer, she asked again.  
"Did he touch you?"

Bobbie nodded slowly and took a few steps away from Emily.

"Sweetie, where did he touch you?"

"Everywhere" Bobbie said with a broken voice.

"It's okay." Emily said, she saw the fear in Bobbie's eyes and she knew that she was about to make it worse.

"You have to tell me what he did, okay? I can't help you otherwise"

"Why? They both will never get foster kids again, they are already arrested because they hit us. It doesn't really matter what else they did, does it?"

"Bobbie…-"Emily started, but Bobbie cut her off.

"Please don't force me to talk about it."

There was a short silence, Bobbie was trying to calm herself down, while Emily was thinking about what to say next. She didn't want Bobbie to feel pressured or even be afraid of her, but she was also angry. Angry at the man who hurt Bobbie, she wanted him to pay for it and she knew that that wouldn't happen, if Bobbie remained silent.

"Did he rape you?" Emily asked carefully. She knew that this was a tough question, but it was the one question she needed an answer to. She could tell that Bobbie was fighting with herself, she was biting her nails and seemed awfully nervous.

Bobbie nodded again.

She looked so anxious, that Emily was afraid that she would get a panic attack. She put her arm around her and hugged her, to calm her down. Bobbie was extremely tense, she didn't want to let go or have a breakdown, but Emily kept holding her and after a short while, Bobbie started to feel comfortable and relaxed.

"Shhh… You will be fine, I promise, you don't have to be embarrassed. Don't worry, you can cry if you want to, that doesn't make you less strong. It just means that you still have something to fight for."


	5. Chapter 5

Bobbie would stay with Emily for a while longer, that was for sure. Emily had no intention of letting Bobbie go to a family that didn't know how to deal with a victim of abuse any time soon. She would keep her at her place- at least until that man got what he deserved and Bobbie was able to handle all of her emotions. But it was difficult, Emily cared- and she knew that she cared too much. She was beginning to think that Bobbie was probably right, she was starting to feel protective over her. She had to find the right balance between helping her and keeping a certain distance. If she didn't succeed, they would both get hurt in the end. Emily didn't know how much time they had, but as off now, it looked like Bobbie would be staying here for a couple of weeks, which made Emily face another problem: How was she supposed to handle her job and the team?

If Bobbie was back in school, things would eventually get easier as she could stay at home alone for an hour or two, but right now she wasn't ready to go back and Emily still didn't want to leave her alone for an entire day. And what would happen when the team would have to work on a case in a different state? She couldn't have Bobbie join her. That's something Emily would have to figure out really fast.

She had received a lot of calls from her team over the last few days, everyone was wondering what Emily was up to and were concerned because she had never taken any time out before. Emily knew that she was not going to be able to stay at home with Bobbie for several weeks. Working for the BAU was a full time job, the team needed her, they had to be able to rely on each other. She would have to show up at her work place tomorrow and at the moment she didn't have a better idea, than to bring Bobbie to the BAU with her.

Bobbie wasn't too happy about that, she would rather stay at home by herself, she liked being alone, but after Emily had told her countless times, that this option was not up for debate, she had given in at the end of the day.

They arrived at the BAU at around 7 am, Bobbie felt really insecure as they were walking through the building, the bruises on her face and arms were still visible and the people walking past them kept staring at her. She felt relieved when they finally stopped walking and were standing in front of an office door, Emily knocked and the door was opened only seconds later. Emily entered the office and Bobbie attempted to follow her inside, but Emily told her to wait outside for a minute.

Now she was left alone standing in the hallway, she felt the agents around her looking at her and tried her best to ignore them, instead she focused on the office door.

"Are you alright?"

Bobbie flinched, she had been listening to the quiet voices coming from the office, trying to understand some parts of the conversation, she hadn't noticed the tall man standing behind her.

"You're Bobbie right? Emily told me about you." Morgan said, looking down at the tomboyish girl. She nodded, but didn't look up. All of her attention belonged to Hotchner's office and the two people talking. Then she thought about the man's words, what did he mean? What had Emily told him, how much did these people know about her and her past? All of a sudden she felt really uncomfortable.

"What did she tell you about me?" Bobbie asked, but the look on Morgan's face said it all.

"You'll get justice ok, we'll make sure of that." Something about Morgan's deep voice was incredibly calming, but Bobbie could also hear an angry undertone in his voice. A part of her knew that he meant what he said, she also knew that Emily really cared about her, but she couldn't help but being mad at her right now.

She had no right to tell other people what had happened to her.

Morgan saw the frustrated look on Bobbie's face, he knew what was going through her mind, he had been there.

"Emily is just trying to help you. I know what you're thinking, but you can't just let this man come away with this. You need to-"

"I don't _need_ to do anything. You know nothing." Now she was angry on Morgan too. He couldn't look inside her head, he didn't know what she was feeling, he hadn't been in her shoes. She was about to open the door to the office, get Emily and tell her that she wasn't going to stay here, but the next moment, the door was opened from the inside and Emily came out of the room, followed by Aaron Hotchner.

"You're going to stay with our Technical Analyst Garcia while I am working, ok? You can stay in her office, I should be done around 5 pm and I will try to come and check on you as often as I can, alright?"

Bobbie nodded and tried to fake a smile, but Emily noticed her anger right away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Emily asked quietly and pulled Bobbie a few steps away from Morgan and Hotch.

"Nothing" Bobbie said, while rolling her eyes.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Emily, how much did you tell them? I don't even know these people." Bobbie whispered angrily, she was clearly upset. She had trusted Emily and opened up to her and now all of these people knew her story.

"I know" Emily said reassuringly "But I do know them and I trust them. Bobbie look, I had to tell them what is going on, you know, I can't just show up with a kid that they've never heard of before at work and ask them to look after you, without telling them anything. Do you understand?"

Bobbie said nothing, but followed Emily, who took her hand and showed her the way to a small, dark room. At first sight, it looked like a normal office for a Technical Analyst. There were big screens on the walls and the whole room was full with computers, but as soon as Bobbie stepped inside, she felt like she had left the BAU. There were stuffed animals on the desk, just like cute decoration and a lot of mugs with Disney characters on them. The entire room seemed much more warm and friendly than the rest of the building, like a little home. However, she didn't have much time to let the first impression of the room sink in. Before she could take another step into the room, she was pulled into a tight, cordial hug.

"OMG hi, you must be Bobbie, I am Penelope! I can't believe what happened to you, who could possibly do something like that to you, you're absolutely adorable. Oh, I suppose you don't want to talk about that, right?" Garcia said and finally let go of Bobbie, who was feeling slightly uncomfortable. The words were streaming out of Garcia's mouth, she was talking like a waterfall and Bobbie could tell that she was a very bubbly and happy person. Bobbie gave Emily a questioning look, but Emily smiled at her and whispered "Thank you" to Garcia before closing the door quietly, leaving Bobbie alone with Garcia.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey Baby Girl." The door was opened from the outside and the tall, muscular man, who Bobbie had already talked to in the hallway before Agent Hotchner's office, entered the room with a bride smile on his face.

Garcia's face lit up and she stood up and hugged Morgan.

"You already know Derek, don't you?" She said to Bobbie, who nodded and looked at the floor.

"I am sorry for the way I talked to you before." She said, still avoiding to look at Morgan's face.

"It's fine" he replied, brushing off the apology, then he looked at Garcia and continued "Can you do some research on this woman, she might be involved in our new case."

Garcia smirked and took a folder out of Morgan's hand. Morgan walked over to Bobbie and sat down next to her.

"Emily just got a phone call, she wants me to tell you that your foster parents are now in jail- for good. They have enough evidence so you don't even have to testify."

Bobbie took a deep breath, she was relieved. She would never have talk about this again.

"That's good." She said and looked at Morgan with a little smile.

Morgan walked over to the door and left Garcia's office again.

"What did you talk about before?" Garcia asked interested "Why did you feel like you needed to apologize?"

"Oh, nothing really" she answered "I just got a little annoyed with him, because he acted like he would understand me."

For a good minute Garcia said nothing, Bobbie had just started thinking that she had managed to avoid this topic, when Garcia started talking again.

"Well, he might be right, you know. You don't know as much about him as I do." She said with a more serious voice, that Bobbie hadn't heard before.

"What do you mean?" Bobbie was confused, was Garcia really implying what she thought she was?

"I can't talk to you about Agent Morgan's private life, sweetie." Garcia said, and suddenly remembered, that she had to respect Morgan's privacy. Bobbie nodded understandingly and took her school supplies out of her backpack, still thinking about Garcia's words.

She was way behind in school because she had skipped it so many times, so Emily had told her to try to catch up, so she would be on the same level as everyone else, when she would go back next week. She had asked Emily if she could change schools, she felt like she really needed a fresh start right now, but Emily hadn't allowed it. She didn't want Bobbie to keep running away from all her problems, she would have to learn how to deal with them this time.

At around 5pm Emily came to pick Bobbie up and they went home. After eating dinner, Bobbie studdied for one more hour and when she was finished, Emily allowed her to watch some TV. At half past 9 Emily sent Bobbie to bed, after she had noticed her tired eyes. Emily had set up a temporary bed in her workroom, so Bobbie had some space for herself.

Emily stayed in the living room for a while longer, working on the new case and watching TV, while drinking a glass of wine. She had just decided that it was enough for today and was about to go to bed, when she heard a scream, coming from Bobbie's room.


	7. Chapter 7

Bobbie was shaking, tears were rolling down her face, she was sweating and kicking around her. Emily quickly turned on the light, sat on Bobbie's bed and tried to wake her up, when the girl didn't react, Emily started shaking her slightly and raised her voice.

Bobbie opened her eyes and started panicking- for a moment she didn't know where she was or who was next to her, she started hitting Emily and tried to get out of the bed, but she felt a hand pushing her down again, which scared her even more.

"Bobbie, come on, calm down! It was just a nightmare." Emily said firmly but gentle and grabbed Bobbie's wrists, to stop her from trying to punch her.

Bobbie stopped fighting Emily and quit crying.

"Sorry that I woke you up." She whispered defeated and laid back again, pulling her blanket up to her chin.

"That's no problem, you can't control that." Emily said concerned.

Bobbie had closed her eyes again, pretending to fall asleep, but Emily didn't make any attempts to leave the room.

"What was your dream about?" she asked

"Nothing, it was stupid" Bobbie said shortly

"No it's not Bobbie and this won't work."

"What won't work?" she asked and sat up again

"You can't just move on and forget about this."

"I am fine." Bobbie said to her knees and crossed her arms. It was more like she was telling it herself, rather than talking to Emily

"No you're not and it won't get better if you don't talk to me. Let me help you."

"I already did talk to you." She said defiantly

"Not really" Emily said "You just answered my questions, but you didn't tell me any details or talked about your feelings"

"Well what do you wanna know?" she asked upset and started pacing around in the room

"Whatever you want to tell me, we don't need to talk about the abuse yet, I you aren't ready for it, but we have to start somewhere." Emily tried to encourage her

Bobbie gave up.

"I don't know where to start" she mumbled

"How did you end up in the foster care system in the first place?" Emily asked carefully

"My parents died in a car crash when I was really young."

"I am sorry."

"It's fine, I can't really remember them anymore. After they died me and my sister stayed in a few families together but we haven't seen each other in years. She's an adult now, so she doesn't live in foster families anymore and I have no idea what she's up to."

"Why don't you visit her?" Emily questioned confused

"Um, I don't know… I try to call her from time to time, but she never really wants to talk to me, we're both kind of doing our own thing…"

There was an awkward silence, so Emily decided to change the subject, before Bobbie would get too uncomfortable.

"Why did you switch families so often?"

"Different reasons I guess, most people only want babies or toddlers, so they don't wanna keep the older kids for too long or they just keep us because of the money they are getting. I kind of got sick of it all after a while. Most of the families had a lot of foster kids to look after, so it was always loud and stressful, you know. So I just started to not come home in the afternoon and stay away until the evening, but some families were bad…." She made a pause "So I just started staying out during the night as well."

"And nobody reported you missing?" the look of unbelief on Emily's face was obvious

"Well sometimes yes, but like I already said, most families had a lot of kids so they didn't really notice- or care. Also after a while my social workers got tired of alarming the police every time I ran away, they knew that I would come back, so they got kind of used to it."

"You're still a kid" Emily couldn't believe how irresponsible Bobbie's social workers had been

"Who cares" Bobbie said indifferently "It was safer outside most of the time."

Emily wanted to ask her why she felt safer running around in the city all by herself in the middle of the night, even though she already knew the answer, but she had promised Bobbie not to force her to talk about it, so she decided to avoid the question for now, still, Emily wasn't ready to change the subject completely.

"Why did you never tell anyone?"

Bobbie knew right away what Emily was talking about.

"I don't know" Bobbie was struggling now. She had always asked herself the same question countless times and she knew why… she had been too ashamed to talk about… too weak

"Can we go to bed now? "Bobbie asked, she had said way too much already

"Sure" Emily said and decided to let go for the night

Thank you all so much for following the story and for all the nice reviews, I really appreciate it:) Also this is my first fanfiction and english is not my first language, so I am sorry if I make some mistakes ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Emily went to her own bedroom, closed the door behind her and started to get ready for bed, but she couldn't turn her brain off. She felt like she had definitely made some progress with Bobbie already, but a part of her was asking herself, if Bobbie would ever trust her enough to talk about all her experiences.

Bobbie wouldn't talk about it and she really had to admit it: she was feeling a little overwhelmed. She had agreed to take Bobbie in for a few days, which turned into weeks, but what if she couldn't help her? What if she would only make things worse? Now that she thought about it, she felt really naive. Had she really thought that she could help a traumatized child, just because she had worked on cases like her's before?

She was struggling with the situation and there was only one person she could go to for advice, even though she didn't feel comfortable asking.

She picked up her phone, well aware that it was almost midnight and called the only person who could help her.

"Sorry, I know it's late, but do you have a minute?" Emily asked apologetically

"Emily, are you alright, what's up?" Morgan's deep, but tired, voice answered

"Yeah I'm alright, that's not why I'm calling." She said nervously

"It's Bobbie right?" Morgan had already expected something like this

"Yeah, I don't know what to do with her. I thought she was getting better, but she woke up screaming and she still doesn't tell me much and-."

"You can't expect her to tell you everything she's ever been through right away. That takes a lot of trust and time- you've only known her for a couple of weeks. You've done an amazing job with that kid so far." Morgan said soothingly

"I don't know if I can help her, she doesn't trust me Derek. We've talked about her life in foster care, but when I asked her why she never told anyone what was going on, she wanted to go to bed." Emily said frustrated

"Emily look…" Morgan sighed "You just have to be patient with her, she will open up to you over time, but she is too ashamed to talk about it." Even he found it hard to talk about this to Emily and this wasn't even about him

"But why? None of it was her fault."

"That's not the point-" another pause "Stuff like this is hard to talk about and after a while you hate yourself for being so weak and letting it happen for so long, that it's even worse."

"What am I supposed to do with her?"

"Just show her that you're there for her, but don't pressure her to talk to you. " Morgan waited for any kind of response, but when Emily didn't answer, he continued "Look, I know it's hard but you can't help her right now, she has to come to you Emily- and I am not even sure if she will ever go into detail about it… How long will she be staying with you? You said she was staying for a couple of days but that's almost a month ago now"

"I don't know, they are looking for a new home for her, but I just… "She couldn't finish the sentence

"What?"

"I don't know if I can let her go anymore."

Emily was already awake in the morning, when Bobbie came into the kitchen, to get herself a snack, before her and Emily would head back to the BAU. She avoided looking at Emily, fearing that she would want to touch up on the conversation that they had had the night before. And she was right. Before the girl could leave the kitchen and return to her room, she heard Emily's voice calling her back.

"Bobbie, can you stay for a moment please?" Emily wasn't going to push Bobbie. She knew that Bobbie wouldn't come to her anymore when she needed to talk, if she would force her.

Bobbie didn't make any attempts to sit next to Emily, she decided to keep standing near the door and Emily accepted that, she wasn't trying to start a serious conversation anyway.

"Don't worry, we won't talk about it now" Emily said, when she saw how tense Bobbie looked "But I want you to talk to someone, Bobbie. I understand that you don't want to tell me much, but you need help." Bobbie knew where this was going. She didn't like it.

"I want you to talk to a therapist."

"What, you mean like regularly?" Bobbie asked, ready to protest

"Yes, we have our own therapist at the BAU, she agreed to working with you."

"No, I am not doing this. I won't talk about… no." She trailed off "It was just a nightmare, you said that yourself." She said, not noticing how aggressive she sounded

"A nightmare based on real experiences." She sighed, there were tears forming in Bobbie's eyes, even though she was good at hiding it. "I am not doing this to punish you, I am trying to help."

"I don't need help." She said, trying to sound grown up, but looking more fragile than ever

"Then do it for me." Emily almost pleaded "Just try it ok?"

Bobbie just nodded. Going to a therapist was the last thing she wanted, but Emily had done so much for her, that she would have felt guilty for not going. She would find a way to get out of this later

I am sorry that it took me so long to update, I just have zero time right now and when I first wrote this chapter I absolutely hated it. I still don't like how this turned out and I am sorry that it is so short.


	9. Chapter 9

An hour later at the BAU/ at the therapist's

"So how long have you been staying with Agent Prentiss?" Dr. Tyson asked, her eyes studying Bobbie, who was clearly uncomfortable.

"Umm I don't know… probably about a month or so." Bobbie answered, just loud enough for Dr. Tyson to hear her. She could feel her chest tightening and had a hard time getting air into her lungs.

"And how are you doing? Agent Prentiss told me that you have been having some nightmares." She said, smiling at Bobbie encouragingly.

"No it's… I'm good." Bobbie said, looking at the clock that was hanging on the wall behind doctor Tyson. Five minutes… that's how much time had passed since her therapy session had started, but it felt like an hour.

"Nightmares are nothing to be ashamed off." Tyson said, sounding like she would try to comfort a five year old. Bobbie hated adults that treated her like a little kid. She had probably been through more than most of them and didn't appreciate to be kept in a pink bubble. She stayed silent, knowing that Tyson was waiting for her to start talking by herself, but the therapist realized that Bobbie wouldn't be an easy patient by any means.

"Look. I don't need a therapy" Bobbie said in a more firm tone "I am just here because Emily wants that, but I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"I didn't ask you to talk about it" Tyson said reassuringly "We can talk about whatever you want."

"But you don't really want that, do you?" Bobbie said, "I mean the whole point of this is that I talk about all that stuff, but I won't! So this is just a waste of time." Bobbie said and stood up, leaving the room without looking back at Doctor Tyson even once.

When she heard the therapist coming after her, she started running, colliding with several agents as she was trying to find her way out of the BAU. She got into the elevator and pressed the button, which would get her to the first floor. Emily would hate her for doing this.

"Hey kid, what are you doing?" She heard a concerned voice from behind her. She flinched and turned around to see that Agent Morgan was in the elevator.

"Nothing, just trying to find some food" She lied

"Well then you are completely wrong in the first floor" he said pointing at the button she had pressed "there's nothing down there except for the exit. I better bring you back to Emily. I am pretty sure that she wouldn't want you wandering around here all by yourself."

" Ummm… no, actually Emily told me that I can go home. She said that I can take the bus"

"That doesn't sound like Emily at all" he said, raising an eye brow

"Well, she changed her mind, got it?" she said, her eyes giving Morgan an angry look

"Hey what's wrong?" Morgan asked, noticing her discomfort right away

"I just need to get out of here." She said, staring at her feet

"Yeah I get that." He said, carefully considering his next words "Emily told me you had your first appointment with our therapist today"

Bobbie was raging inside, making a mental note to repeatedly tell Emily to stop discussing her problems with her friends.

"So?" Bobbie said provocatively

"So I assume it didn't go that well?"

"Did Emily tell you to stalk me or something?" Bobbie said, letting all her anger, frustration and anxiety out on Morgan.

"She told me to keep an eye on the door of Doctor Tyson's office while she is talking to a suspect. She already guessed that your first session would most likely not go that well." He said with a smirk on his face, which quickly disappeared when his eyes met Bobbie's.

"What was the problem with Tyson?" He asked with a more serious voice "She is a great therapist."

"I just don't like her." She said and happily noticed that they had finally arrived at the first floor.

"Did she pressure you or-"Morgan started, but the elevator doors were opening, revealing two huge glass doors.

Bobbie stepped out of the elevator quickly, her eyes now focused on the exit, but before she could make another step, she felt someone grabbing her arm.

"Hey, not so fast." Morgan said, as he kept holding her

"Let go off me" Bobbie demanded, but Morgan had gently pulled her back into the elevator and before Bobbie could try to escape, the doors were already closing again and the elevator was moving upwards

"What are you doing?" She asked frustrated

"Bringing you back to Emily" he said shortly

"No… please she will just get mad" Bobbie said quietly and looked at Morgan with pleading eyes

"She won't get mad, you know that." He said as they left the elevator again and aimed towards the cafeteria

"What are we doing here?" Bobbie asked confused "I thought you were bringing me back to Emily."

"Not yet" Morgan answered "Also, didn't you say you wanted to get some food" he said teasingly

"You know that was a lie." Bobbie said, smiling a little bit

"Well we can still have lunch together if you want to." He said "I'll just give Emily a call"

With that he left Bobbie at a table and went to buy the two of them some food, trusting her that she wouldn't run away. And Bobbie stayed.


	10. Chapter 10

Bobbie kept playing with her food, not knowing what to say. She didn't even know if she wanted to say anything at all. All she could think about was all the trouble she had gotten herself into once again

"Is the burger good?" Morgan asked, he could sense Bobbie's anxiety and wanted to distract her from her problems, but at the same time, he knew that he wasn't doing the kid any favors by allowing her to ignore what had just happened

"Yeah thanks" she said quietly and looked up "Ummm Agent Morgan, are you going to tell Emily that I tried to run away?" she asked nervously

"You can call me Derek" he said "and I am afraid that Doctor Tyson already told Emily that you ran out of the room." He finished the sentence, but decided to continue when Bobbie kept looking at him expectantly "But no, I won't tell her that you tried to leave the BAU- if you promise me, that you will never do that again."

"I won't" she said quickly "I am sorry."

"It's fine "Morgan said and gave her a reassuring smile "I did that a lot too"

"You were in therapy here?" Bobbie asked curiously and remembered her conversation with Garcia

"Yeah I was" he said slowly, he wasn't quite sure how much he should tell her

"I was about your age, maybe a few years older, when someone I trusted took advantage of me." He said, eyeing her closely "I never told anybody, all my childhood long"

"Who ummm-"Bobbie started, but she couldn't finish the sentence. She found it extremely hard to talk about this, even though they were not even talking about her story

"It was my football coach" he said "My dad died when I was really young, so I never really had a father while growing up." He explained, but Bobbie was still avoiding any eye contact and he knew that he would have to tell her more, if he wanted her to disclose to him

"I always thought that it was only fair, you know" he started "he was the closest thing I had to a dad, so I thought I had to let him do whatever he wanted. But that was wrong Bobbie."

"He said that nobody would believe me anyway" Bobbie said and stared at her plate "That nobody would care, because I am a foster kid and that… that he was the only one who was _helping_ me." She finished

"It wasn't your fault, you know that right? That man had no right to do that."

"I know" she said "but I never said anything, I just let him keep doing it and then I just ran away, like a little baby"

"You are a kid Bobbie" he said and smirked when he saw her giving him a slightly annoyed look, when he called her ' _kid'_ "It was good that you ran away, otherwise you wouldn't be here now, right?" He asked and was happy to see Bobbie nod

They didn't talk for a few minutes, both lost in their own thoughts, when Bobbie started talking again

"I never knew how to tell someone" she whispered "I thought about going to the police a lot, but I didn't know how I should say all that stuff"

"I know" he said and put his fork down before continuing "I didn't know it either. It's okay to be ashamed Bobbie, but you can't let him win."

"You need help. Trust me, it will only make things worse, if you keep pushing everyone away. Emily just wants to help you." He said ,when Bobbie didn't respond

"Do I have to go back?" Bobbie asked, dreading the answer

Morgan knew that she was referring to therapy "Probably yeah, but not today, okay?" he asked and got another nod in return

5 minutes later they were back in Garcia's office, where Emily was already waiting for them and to Bobbie's disappointment, Doctor Tyson was with her.

"Sweetie, what happened?" Emily asked confused "Why did you run"

"Nothing I… I just wanted a little break and I was on my way to the cafeteria and then I met Derek" she lied and looked up to the tall man, but he didn't say anything

"Do you want to finish the session?" Tyson asked and looked down at Bobbie, but Bobbie just shook her head and faced Emily

"Can we go home, please?" she asked

"Yes, of course we can, but we are not done talking about this." She said and gave her a sad smile

Hi guys, I am so sorry that it took me so long to update, I have been really busy lately, but I have had a lot of time to write during the last couple of days.

!I also started a new story, it's also about child abuse, but it's a private practice fanfiction. I just uploaded the first chapter and it would be amazing, if some of you would read it and tell me what you think. Thank you:)!

Also thank you all for all the nice reviews I have gotten so far, they really make my day every time


	11. Chapter 11

The short drive from the BAU back to Emily's apartment was filled with nothing but silence. Bobbie was staring out of the window, watching hundreds of cars pass bye, even though she couldn't really see them. The world in front of her eyes was blurry, the colors washed out by the tears threatening to leave her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall. Emily was eyeing her closely, only wondering now, why she hadn't noticed the sweat on Bobbie's forehead or her shortness of breath before.

"Hey, look at me" Emily inquired; Even though she had kept her voice quiet and rather soft, she couldn't help but see Bobbie quiver slightly.

Bobbie took her eyes off the road for a split second, not meeting Emily's gaze, only to lower her head again, this time looking at her own lap. Emily took one hand away from the steering wheel and slowly wrapped it around Bobbie's ice cold one, that was clenched into a fist. Bobbie muttered something incomprehensive and removed her hand from Emily's light grip and moved it to her head, to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked eying Bobbie closely, but her words were only met with silence.

"Nothing…. I just-"she tried but a lump in her throat stopped her from finishing the sentence she had started.

"Did Doctor Tyson say anything to make you feel upset?" Emily suggested carefully, knowing that the therapists at the BAU were used to working with the agents rather than with children.

"I am not going back there again. " Bobbie said resolutely and cast an angry look at Emily, when the older woman attempted to open her mouth to argue against her

"No don't" she suddenly yelled, causing Emily who was still driving to panic for a split second "You said that I only have to try it once. I did. I don't like it." Bobbie said stubbornly. There were no more tears glistening in her eyes, instead all she felt was boiling anger that was eating her up from the inside and making it hard for her to breathe.

"I know that and I am really proud of you for trying it" Emily quickly said in an attempt to give Bobbie some reassurance, before the situation could even start escalating.

"What happened?" Emily tried again and pulled over to the parking lot in front of her apartment, before turning off the engine and giving Bobbie her full attention.

"Nothing." Bobbie repeated irritated "nothing happened, she just kept talking shit"

"Hey language" Emily scolded, but the warning didn't seem to reach Bobbie at all

"What? It's true, she doesn't know what she is talking about" Bobbie snapped and leaned back in the car seat, her arms crossed.

"What did she say to you?" Emily asked with a more soft voice again- she knew that she wouldn't get anywhere if she would try to discipline Bobbie now. The kid had never learned how to deal with her emotions and the fact that Bobbie had actually started to talk about her feelings was much more important than her word choices.

"It was the way she said things that bothered me, I am not a five year old and I am not stupid." Bobbie muttered bitterly and rolled her eyes

"Nobody said that" Emily corrected her patiently and quietly waited for Bobbie to speak again

"But that's what she thought" the kid mumbled with a defeated look in her eyes

"I am sure she didn't mean it like that" Emily said soothingly while reaching over to hold Bobbie's hand again

"You are gonna make me go back right?" Bobbie asked, even though she already knew the answer

"I don't want to force you, okay? But it's really important that you try it again. We will make a deal, alright? You try going again in a few days and I will call Doctor Tyson and tell her that you don't wat to be treated like a little kid." Emily suggested and looked at Bobbie expectantly

"Fine" Bobbie finally answered several minutes later "Can we just please stop talking about this now?" she asked while unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car

"Yes we can" Emily gave in and got out of the car as well, she didn't want to risk upsetting Bobbie any further now that they had come up with a solution

Wordlessly she made her way around the car and started walking next to Bobbie who had her eyes fixed on the ground again

"I'm sorry" she heard the girl whisper quietly

"I know. It's okay."

Hey guys I am SO SORRY that this took me SO long to update :( I just realized that I don't really like the way I wrote the previous chapters and didn't know what to do with this story for a while. Also what do you guys want me to focus on: EmilyxBobbie bonding, more MorganxBobbie, Emily at work, therapy sessions or is there anything else you want to see? What can I do better ?(both writing style wise and content wise)


	12. Chapter 12

Emily woke up early the next morning. She stayed in bed for another hour, preparing herself for the phone call she was about to make. She had thought about this for quite some time now and she had made up her mind, even though she still thought that she must be crazy for doing, what she was about to do.

She could feel her heart beating faster than usually and she was breathing heavily. She got out of bed and stepped out of her bedroom, to check if Bobbie's bedroom door was still closed, before returning to her own room. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, before she finally picked up her phone.

"Marcus Walters, how can I help you?" Bobbie's social worker answered

"Mr. Walters yes, Agent Emily Prentiss here. I took Bobbie in a few weeks ago, I don't-"She started

"Oh yeah I remember, I am sorry it's taking so long. She is not causing you any problems, is she?" He said quickly

"Oh no, she's not causing problems at all. But that's not what I wanted to talk about- I've thought about it and I want to keep Bobbie." She said nervously

"You mean you want to make this a permanent placement for her?" Walters asked

"I want to adopt her" Emily said, now with a more strong voice

"With all respect, Agent Prentiss, I am sure that you only have Bobbie's best interest at heart, but I am not sure that you fully understand the situation…" Walters said

"What do you mean by that?" Emily asked, taken aback by the social worker's statement

"You see, I do not want to question your ability to raise a child as a single woman with a full- time job-"he started

"Then don't" Emily shot back coldly

"I don't mean to insult you" he said quickly "All I am saying is that you should consider your situation."

"You know that I am her best option" Emily said "I might not have a partner to support me and a full time job that takes up a lot of time, but I care about her." She said sternly "More than the people you have placed her with before…"

There was a silence that lasted for a couple of seconds and Emily could feel more so than hear that Walters was getting uncomfortable.

"I will try my best to make sure that she will never have to live with an abusive family again" Walters said "But there is only so much I can do as a social worker. I do obviously visit all children in my charge at their current placements from time to time, but if they don't speak up…"

"So you are saying that it was Bobbie's fault that she was abused and neglected in multiple families?" Emily said and only now realized how loud her voice had gotten. Quickly, she walked out of her bedroom and looked over to Bobbie's bedroom door. It was still closed and she could hear nothing but her own heavy breathing.

"I never said that" he tried to reassure her "All I am saying is that I will try to keep a closer eye on her from now on"

"You can't guarantee that she will never be placed in a bad home again. And even if you could- she needs more than that. She needs a real home with someone who cares about her, not just a place she can sleep at night."

"I am aware of that, but most people aren't trained to deal with kids with a past like Bobbie's" he sighed

"That's why you should leave her with me." Emily countered "I can take some time off in the beginning, if that's what bothering you and I have a friend at my workplace who is looking after Bobbie when I am working and she has promised me that she will take care of her whenever I have to travel"

Emily waited, but Walters didn't answer right away. Now it was her time to sigh, she had thought that social workers would be happy to know that the children in their charge were being looked after by decent people- yet Walters seemed hesitant.

"If that's really what you want, then I will take the necessary steps to initiate the whole process" he said after a short while, clearly sounding defeated

"Yes" Emily said with a stern voice "And thank you"

Hi guys thanks for reading and as always sorry for the long wait. Please know that I would never abandon any of my stories, I just have a lot going on at the moment and therefore don't have much time or energy to write.

If you want to you can leave me a review, I would really appreciate it. Have a great day/night!


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